Sidenote: I suppose that explains Harry Hay, the father of the American gay rights movement, who founded the Mattachine Society (in 1949!!) and the Radical Faeries, and who died on Thursday at age 90 with his husband by his side. We should all be so lucky!!
Y’know, I am a christian, and I will not berate anyone on being atheist, Wiccan, or anything else. But there are some things that other self-proclaimed christians* do that I despise. This Chick guy does most of them. Asshole.
*I’m not trying to make presumptions on his salvation or anything, but I have to wonder about this guy.
Y’know, as bigoted and propagandistic as the Christian haunted houses may be, one has to give them full props for entering into the true spirit of All Hallows Eve. Halloween originated as a placation of dark spirits, a bonfire festival to implore the gods to let the Sun be reborn for another year. It was a time when the spirits of the dead walked among the living. Over the centuries, it has been an occasion to mark the inevitability of death, to confront the secret fear of the grave. In America, Halloween has so much lost the atmosphere of terror that it has degenerated into just another excuse to gobble candy. Children don’t even wear scary costumes anymore; how does dressing up as an adorable little ballerina or Power Ranger summon up the fear of the unknown and the lowering of the borders that separate the world of the living from the land of the dead?
It is ironic that the Fundamentalists, who in their typically clumsy and stupid way try to use Halloween for evangelism of their religion-for-dimwits, actually express the darkness and terror that overcame our ancestors when they saw the sun lose its power in the waning year. In their dumbass fashion, the fundies are evoking the aura of ancient human sacrifices and blood offerings in their AIDS patient and abortion tableaus. And for their inadvertent honoring of the true spirit of the holiday, I thank the fundies.
Wait a minute – it’s the Masons who are the vampires? Okay, starting tomorrow, I stop putting stakes in Jesuits, and I go after the Masons and Shriners. Maybe I could sabotage those little cars…
On a different note, Vanilla, I can’t help wondering what “taking the holiday back” means in regards to Hallowe’en. Does that mean being more like the agrarian Celtic festival? Those were pretty earthy; hope you don’t mind sexual imagery.
I wonder what Chick thinks of Dias de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, as they celebrate it in Mexico with skeletons, and music, and having dinner at the grave of a loved one…
There was a brilliant piece on “This American Life” (Real Audio; it’s the first act, after the prologue) on the “Hell House” outside Dallas, TX (and its imitators). There is apparently a documentary film about the same subject making the film festival circuit, the makers of which were involved with the TAL piece.
I was truly disturbed at the lengths some people would go to in order to frighten people into the arms of a loving God.
Dr. J
One of my friends from the Pagan Student Association at the university I attend showed me a Pagan tract the other day. Being a Pagan, it made me feel better to some extent because it explained in a better way that I had every right to believe what I wanted without being condemned to an eternity of suffering after death.
I remember when I was in 7th grade and my geography teacher showed us a video about “what halloween really is and its true origins.” I didn’t buy into it at all, and, to my dismay, I think I was one of the few that thought it was just a bunch of crap. This is what I get for being sent to a parochial school with some fundie tinges to their methodology. In retrospect, I should have said something to the teacher afterward about the fact that it did offend me to some extent… then again, it probably wouldn’t have done any good, because I can already see that he would’ve thought I was just blind to “the truth” that he was attempting to spread.
This Samhain should be interesting for me; I currently don’t have any plans to do a ritual this year, but that’s more because I live in a dorm and don’t have any room to establish a worship space in my room or anywhere else nearby. Oh well; I’ll have plenty of time to set up something more showy to worship the deities with.
-indigo
Presumably as a parent one could have the neighbours prosecuted for poisoning a child with contaminated candy?
What about poisoning their minds with contaminated pamphlets?
Freedom of speech. You don’t want the pamphlet, say no thank you or simply throw it away. Tell you kids if you don’t want them to accept any literature. I myself used to give out tracts at Halloween but don’t take part anymore. My husband doesn’t want trick or treaters coming to the door, but if they did I"d most certainly give them a tract with their candy.
Good for you vanilla! Our church doesn’t allow the kids to wear scary costumes either.
I agree with you on this! When I go to heaven, I want to see…Jerry Garcia, playing his guitar and singing “Dark Star!”
Actually it can be quite fun.
Generally speaking most people, especially young people enjoy a good jolt now and then, be it a thrill ride, a scary movie, or listening to a ghost story by a campfire.
Being able to dress up like something you are not and wandering around the neighbourhood thinking you can scare someone is lots of fun for most children. Give a young kid a scary mask and act scared when they put it on and watch them giggle. It may not be fun for you, but that’s your issue.
By the way last Halloween I went as a run over corpse complete with tire marks and oozing wounds, and I had a ball. Thuis year I may go as teh faceless Chick God. I just need to find a way to make myself glow in the dark. I think I’ll even create a throne.
I’ll probably come very close to hijacking, but I think I’ve found a kindred soul in Naz. I have a very non-Bible thumping Protestant set of beliefs, and people like Jack Chick and Jerry Falwell drive me up the wall.
I’d like to have someone of Jack’s ilk explain how ANYONE got to heaven before their brand of religion developed.
IMAO, Halloween is in the same boat as the New Testament topic of eating meat that was offered to idols: it’s not a problem if you don’t ascribe any significance to the event (NOTE: I am not slamming the day for anyone else who may hold the day to have religious meaning). As long as the kids are in it for the fun and the candy, there is nothing wrong or sinful about it, and Chick is so full of shit his eyes are brown.
Doesn’t Allow?!?!? So then the kids want to have fun but your Church decides that the freedom expression doesn’t include kids playing dress up but you folks are allowed to proselitize with those tracts? I’m sorry is there a part in the bible that says thou shalt not dress up in scary costumes or else I’ll send you to hell? Or something along those lines? Or do you believe that simply wearing a costume automatically makes you a worshiper of evil?
You know what you folks should really relax. If you believe God put you on this earth wouldn’t he want you to enjoy yourselves once and a while?
OOOOO! Where are my rotten eggs. I hope you get a flaming bag of Doogy Doo!
You know, I don’t think you guys should be all over poor 'nilla for celebrating the holiday as she sees fit. She’s really not hurting you guys…
(Besides, I always preferred pretty costumes when I was little too).
A few years ago, when my son and I went trick and treating, we passed out tracts to the people who gave us candy!
Planting seeds…
(they all thanked us)
(no, they weren’t Chick tracts)
Thanks, Guin , my son will be an M&M this year (I know, some folk think theyre evil…;))
I will be wearing all white and being AUnt Arctica, since its supposed to snow anyway.
Sorry Vanillia, I got carried away, If your kid wants to be an M&M that is no concern of mine, even if your son want sto be nothing once again not my concern. My original rant is about those Chickites who drop tracts in the treat bags. Forgive me if I redirected my rant on you.
This doesn’t surprise me one whit.
Aaargh! Vanilla, you realize you’re not helping the nausea I’ve been battling recently!
His4Ever, just a few questions for you.
Why are you doing this?
What do you hope to accomplish by handing out these pamphets?
How do you think you would have reacted to being given one when you were a kid?
How do you know these kids don’t already go to a church?
I’m all for spreading the Gospel, but I prefer to do so as efficiently as possible – maybe it’s the engineer in me. This strikes me as the telemarketing approach to evangelizing: while you may get a few buyers, you’ll also annoy at least as many other people. Then again, I’m sick, cranky, and tired for about the 5th day in a row. 
CJ
People do that just to be polite.